Parasocial Relationships with Transgender Characters and Attitudes Toward Transgender Individuals
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Syracuse University SURFACE Dissertations - ALL SURFACE December 2016 Parasocial relationships with transgender characters and attitudes toward transgender individuals Lizhen Zhao Syracuse University Follow this and additional works at: https://surface.syr.edu/etd Part of the Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons Recommended Citation Zhao, Lizhen, "Parasocial relationships with transgender characters and attitudes toward transgender individuals" (2016). Dissertations - ALL. 553. https://surface.syr.edu/etd/553 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the SURFACE at SURFACE. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations - ALL by an authorized administrator of SURFACE. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Abstract The transgender population lives in a condition of serious discrimination, poverty and violence (NCTE, 2014). Few studies, however, have been conducted to understand people’s attitudes toward this population and factors that affect the responses. Applying the Parasocial Contact Hypothesis (Schiappa, Gregg & Hewes, 2005), this thesis investigated the relationship between audiences’ positive and negative parasocial relationships with transgender characters in TV and their attitudes toward transgender people in real life. A survey method was employed to address research questions and test hypothesis. Results show a significant association between parasocial relationship (positive or negative) and attitudes toward trans people in real life. Parasocial relationship was also found to have mediating and interactive effects on the relationship between perceived realism of characters and attitudes toward transgender population. Finally, it was also suggested that positive parasocial relationship with comedy characters is a stronger predictor of attitudes than with non-comedy characters. Contribution, limitation and implications were also discussed. Keywords: Parasocial Relationship, Attitudes towards Transgender, Parasocial Contact Hypothesis PARASOCIAL RELATIONSHIP WITH TRANSGENDER CHARACTERS AND ATTITUDES TOWARD TRANSGENDER INDIVIDUALS by Lizhen Zhao B.A. Fudan University, 2014 Thesis Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Media Studies. Syracuse University December, 2016 Copyright © Lizhen Zhao 2016 All Rights Reserve Table of Contents Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1: Introduction ............................................................................................................... 1 The present study ..................................................................................................................... 2 Chapter 2: Literature review ....................................................................................................... 5 Transgender portrayals in media ........................................................................................... 5 Parasocial relationships ........................................................................................................... 7 Parasocial Contact Hypothesis .............................................................................................. 14 Perceived realism of character .............................................................................................. 18 Perceived variety of characters ............................................................................................. 19 Real life contacts and PCH .................................................................................................... 20 Humor and media effect ........................................................................................................ 21 Chapter 3: Methodology ............................................................................................................. 23 Sampling .................................................................................................................................. 23 Procedures ............................................................................................................................... 24 Measurements ......................................................................................................................... 24 Independent Variables. ........................................................................................................ 24 Dependent Variables. ........................................................................................................... 25 IRB ........................................................................................................................................... 28 Data analysis ........................................................................................................................... 28 Chapter 4: Results ....................................................................................................................... 30 Data cleaning .......................................................................................................................... 30 Normality, Reliability Testing and Correlation .................................................................. 31 Description of IVs and DVs ................................................................................................... 33 Hypotheses Testing ................................................................................................................. 37 Research question exploration .............................................................................................. 41 Chapter 5: Discussion ................................................................................................................. 43 Contributions .......................................................................................................................... 43 Limitations .............................................................................................................................. 50 Future research ...................................................................................................................... 50 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 52 Appendix A: Shows and characters selected ............................................................................ 53 Drama ...................................................................................................................................... 54 Comedy Drama ....................................................................................................................... 55 Appendix B: Survey Instruments .............................................................................................. 56 Positive Parasocial Relationship. ......................................................................................... 58 Negative Parasocial Relationship. ....................................................................................... 59 Attitudes towards transgender individuals. ......................................................................... 60 Tables ........................................................................................................................................... 64 Figures .......................................................................................................................................... 85 References .................................................................................................................................... 88 iv Vita ............................................................................................................................................. 101 v Chapter 1: Introduction This is a special moment for transgender people. With celebrities and advocates like Larverne Cox, Caitlyn Jenner, and recently Lilly Wachowski speaking out and increasing representation in scripted TV shows, the visibility of the transgender community in media has risen in the last several years (GLAAD, 2014, Nov.; 2016, Jan; Luk, 2016, March). Such entertainment content includes films and TV shows that adapt tragic true stories of real transgender people (such as Boys Don’t Cry, 1999, Soldier’s Girl, 2003, and A Girl Like Me, 2006). There are also reality shows that present the life of transgender people like Transamerican Love Story (2008), a transgender dating reality show and TRANSform Me, (2010), a make-over reality show produced and starred by transgender women Laverne Cox. There are also fictional and comedy shows that include or even center transgender characters, like Amazon’s comedy series Transparent (2014). There is no doubt that more and more transgender images are visible in the U.S. media, yet it is unclear if this “progress” is making any changes to transgender people’s lives. Their living conditions remain a major concern. According to Injustice at Every Turn: A Report of the National Transgender Discrimination Survey (Grant, Mottet, Tanis, Harrison, Herman & Keisling, 2011), transgender adults are more likely to be living in poverty (15% of respondents reported an annual household income lower than $10,000, while the average rate is 4%). The report also shows that 30% of them reported a physical or mental disability that interferes with major life activities; at the same time, 6% of